The practical side of Positive philosophy is forward looking, seeking
an understanding of morality, politics and economics relevant to a
future in which the human genome might be evolved by design
and in which intelligence is manifest in inanimate or hybrid machines
and networks.

It is desirable in considering such profound changes to connect our
thinking with the history of ideas, so that our projections about
future possibilities are grounded in reflections on past actualities
and ideas.

In this chapter some such connections are sought by tracing the
history of some of the themes in terms of which our future options are
to be analysed.